Philips The Stretch review

In terms of comfort, we loved The Stretch. The flexible headband means that there’s a decent amount of pressure to keep the cans close to your ears, while the padded headband keeps the set comfortable to wear. We also like the sound-isolating cushions on the cans, which make the headphones comfortable to wear but ensure that sound doesn’t leak out to annoy people around you. In fact, even with our iPod on full volume, sound didn’t leak out; in practice this means that you should be able to listen to music on a lower volume, saving your hearing.

Sound quality is generally excellent from the 40mm drivers. We found that the sound was pleasant and warm, producing clear treble, bringing out high frequency detail in music. Vocals are faithfully produced and clear, while mid-tones sounded fresh. If anything, bass is a little on the heavy side and rock music can sound a little muffled at times, losing some low-frequency sounds. However, using a bass-reduction EQ on an MP3 player irons this out, leaving rich detailed sound that can make the best of pretty much any track.

Whether you’re accident prone, into your extreme sports or just want a really good pair of headphones for a commute, the Philips The Stretch headphones are a durable and quality choice, justifying their relatively high price.